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On 4 – 6 April, a seminar entitled "Preparing Nordea SE Employee Involvement" was arranged for representatives of the Nordea workforce at the Aulanko Nature Reserve outside the Finnish town of Hämeenlinna. The seminar focused on the work within Nordea's Consultative Committees.
The seminar began with representatives from the non-Nordic countries reporting on what had happened since the seminar held at Kobæk Strand in December. Six of the seven countries outside the Nordic region were represented, only Estonia was missing.
Lithuania and Latvia were unfortunately unable to report any direct success.
Sandra Karklina from Nordea in Latvia reported that many young and gifted employees have left the bank. Although finding replacements for them is not a problem, it is clear that young people are more interested in their own careers than in issues relating to job security and terms and conditions of employment.
"The situation is the same at the other banks. Young people are not interested in trade union work. Their primary focus is on their own job opportunities,” said Sandra.
Rasa Repeckaite from Lithuania also had an unhappy story to relate. After the Kobæk meeting, she and her colleague organised a meeting at a bank in Vilnius, but there was limited interest. It was mostly the management that was curious to hear what had happened. "No one seems interested in forming a trade union," said Rasa.
Zbigniew Kalenbach, Chairman of the Solidarity trade union at Nordea in Poland, where 60 of the 850 employees are members, was not particularly satisfied with the situation either. Although the trade union is not losing members, he feels that the management is against the trade union.
The representatives from Germany, Luxemburg and the UK did not have anything new to add, but appreciated having the opportunity to participate and learn more ahead of the creation of Nordea SE.
A cornerstone
As has been mentioned in previous articles, the system of Consultative Committees (CC) is a cornerstone of the relations between the management and Nordea's trade unions in the Nordic countries.
Michael Hansen (pictured), who is the CC Co-ordinator in the Nordea Union Board, presented the structure of the organisation and introduced the group work on current collective bargaining issues.
At the same time, the representatives from the non-Nordic countries conducted separate group work sessions to discuss how to get things moving in their countries.
John Vagn Nielsen from Denmark presented approaching activities that may be of interest to this target group. The Nordea Union Board will hold its annual meeting on 1-2 June. A training seminar is planned for the autumn with a follow-up seminar in the spring of 2006. There are also plans for a joint website.
The EU project that has funded the activities so far will end in May, but the NFU is now applying for funds for a second phase. Per Karlberg of the NFU also launched the idea of "merging" the NFU's Baltic Region project with the Nordea project. This could help to build trade union structures at Nordea in the Baltic region.
The management's view of the CCs
Ari Laakso, Head of Group HR Services Nordic at Nordea spoke about the management's experience of the work in the Consultative Committees. On the plus side, he mentioned that the process saves time, makes it easier to handle local co-operation and creates a better understanding for the changes that are needed. The process also provides a forum for a meaningful dialogue between employer and union representatives and improves mutual trust and understanding.
"It is an important building block when building One Nordea, i.e. creating cross-border understanding and acceptance,” he said.
On the negative side, Laakso mentioned the following:
- The parties do not know the rules. Inappropriate matters are discussed.
- Union representatives do not communicate clearly enough with local colleagues.
- Time is lost.
- Different union cultures lead to confusion.
- There is not always enough cross-border thinking.
Nordea's plans to form a European Company are continuing, but according to Ari Laasko not much will happen in the course of 2005. The bank is awaiting the EU's decision on deposit guarantees, which is due in September. After this, the negotiations on forms for employee influence can begin. Laakso assured the meeting that all of the employees will be represented in these negotiations, including those from the non-Nordic countries.
Cultural differences
The seminar concluded with a presentation by the consultant John Alexander on "Cultural differences and similarities"”. There are a number of features that clearly characterise the Nordic countries, for example a high degree of social security, gender equality, low corruption and e-readiness, but there are also many differences. If we could take the best from each country and form a Nordic community or a joint company (like Nordea) John Alexander envisages the following corporate image:
Teamwork (Sweden), determination (Finland), friendly (Denmark) and "all together, right now" (Norway).
Bengt Rolfer
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